August 20, 2006
Weather report from Mars
Here's interesting news from space: geysers on Mars, "unlike anything that occurs on earth," according to new research pulished last week.
Every spring, as the sun peeks above the horizon at the Martian south polar icecap, powerful jets of carbon dioxide gas erupt through the icecap’s topmost layer. The jets climb high into the thin, cold air, carrying fine, dark sand and spraying it for hundreds of feet around each jet....Posted by Alan at August 20, 2006 02:39 PMThe team began its research in an attempt to explain what caused mysterious dark spots, fan-like markings and spider-shaped features on the icecap at the Martian south pole. The dark spots – typically 50 to 150 feet wide and spaced several hundred feet apart – appear every southern spring as the sun rises over the icecap. They last for three or four months and then vanish, only to reappear the next year, after winter’s cold has deposd a fresh layer of ice on the cap. Most spots even seem to recur at the same locations.